UK-India Technology Partnership and Opportunities for collaboration
L-R Jass Sarai, PwC; Salone Sehgal, London Venture Partners; Richard Heald OBE, UKIBC; Jim Bligh, TCS; and Anish Patel, PwC
The UK India Business Council, in collaboration with the PwC UK-India Group, hosted a seminar in London on 19 September to discuss UK-India technology collaborations.
Following the Prime Ministers’ April announcement about the new UK India Technology Partnership, the panel deliberated ways in which this could be nurtured and the hurdles that could inhibit its development. The key points are outlined below.
It was acknowledged that there are already a vast number of technology partnerships between the UK and India, some of which were referenced in UKIBC’s report on bilateral innovation collaborations, but there still exists huge potential to forge many more such partnerships.
Until now, the majority of investment in upstream technology in the UK has been by larger Indian companies. However, real innovation is being driven by small and medium Indian companies so these should not be overlooked.
Issues of perception abound at both ends of the UK India corridor. All too often, UK companies view India as an outsourcing destination, while Indian tech companies gravitate towards the US because they consider Silicon Valley to be the tech hub of the West.
Perception runs very deep on both sides and requires much more awareness-raising and discourse to change it to reflect the reality. Attitudes also need to change because, in actual fact, the UK and India share much greater complementarity with each other than they do with other countries, especially in sectors such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, future mobility, edu-tech, fintech, food tech, and health tech.
The TCS and Rolls-Royce joint venture was cited as an excellent example of an extremely successful UK-India partnership that is generating cutting-edge technology, creating new jobs, improving services, and transforming the aerospace sector. However, despite its success, this collaboration continues to face some major challenges. These include a shortage of skilled talent (due to the fact that all the major players in this sector are competing for the same talent); the fact that the TCS brand is not as well known in the UK as it is in India; and, finally, the labour mobility issue, which poses a real barrier to greater investment and innovation.
It is important to get the message across to innovative companies across the UK that India is playing a leading role in the 4th Industrial Revolution. Effective messaging along these lines will help to positively change perceptions and, in the longer run, bring in more flexible Tier 2 visa rules to allow the flow of skills and expertise.
For the UK India Technology Partnership to truly flourish, it was argued governments should play the role of facilitator to encourage more horizontal grassroots connections between both countries. At the same time, the onus is also on UK and Indian companies to unite to actively influence politicians to bring about this change.
The panel also touched upon the issue of data privacy and management in the UK India corridor. Today, no company can afford not to think about GDPR and data protection. Governments of both countries need to work together to avoid fragmented legislation and implement high-quality global standards that provide the same legal protection to both UK and Indian companies.
